Recently there's been so much talk about the future of Scale offerings from Lionel. I've decided to take a break on wondering what's coming out in the future and go back to see what I missed in the past.

I have a soft spot for 4-8-4 Northern Steamers and about a month ago I discovered the Santa Fe #3751 through a Pentrex DVD "Steam to the Grand Canyon 3751 NRHS Convention Special". I remembered that Lionel offered this engine in 2004, and after getting positive feedback from forum members, the hunt was on!

I got the engine yesterday and I'm happy to say that it's all that everyone descibed it to be! I immediately put the telescope stack on and the smoke output was so good, smoke was coming out from underneath and around the front cylinders. If you have this engine and have never used the telescope stack, try it. I also took some photos.

Photo Album

Nice photos!

Because I am all Santa Fe, I have three 3751's. One of them has been renumbered to 3759. One is in limbo for numbering. Two are Lionel, one is 3rd Rail. Surprisingly, I enjoy the Lionel engines more because of the superior sound and operating characteristics. Both the Lionel and the 3rd Rail are stunning engines. You ought to see them double headed with a long consist of scale length passenger cars. I would have liked four chuffs per rev, my only complaint.

There are not a lot of Santa Fe steam fans, so I think this engine goes way underappreciated.

This class of Santa Fe Northern had 14 engines- 3751-3764. The 3759 was the engine in the video "Last Run Over Cajon Pass", a must see for Santa Fe fans. You will enjoy that video. I saw that engine in Kingman, AZ. The 3751 class engines are very big Northerns. I hope I get to see 3751 run someday.

Enjoy your new engine. I think that we all may be going back to pick up some of the previous releases if the economy doesn't permit new production.

Trevize if you read this, you ought to pick up one of these and convert it to PS2. You won't be disappointed.